So, you have decided to boost your business by creating a professional web project. You’ve chosen a web development agency. You’ve collected the necessary budget, you’ve outlined the idea, and you are ready to start. What should you do to ensure all your requirements are met by the production team? Based on our experience, we have prepared some recommendations, for you to make your cooperation with web developers mutually beneficial and enjoyable.
1) Discuss ALL the project details beforehand. Just like any creative process, web development definitely involves throes of creation. Web professionals do their best to give birth to a perfect product. You should remember that their task is not easy by itself. Before starting a project, an algorithm has to be set, and the development process has to be split into successive steps. If all of a sudden you decide to change a major feature or add a new one in the middle of the process, or, which is even worse – at the final stage, that may turn everything to chaos. The production team will have to spend additional time rebuilding the schedule.
2) Do not speed things up. Of course, we understand your desire to get everything done fast, but, in any case, quality should be your major priority.
3) Ask questions. Do not be afraid to seem ignorant – the more you ask, the more answers you get. You are not obliged to sound like a web professional – that is the job of a web development agency. Moreover, professionals may help you outline the milestones of your project, and give their valuable advice.
4) Learn the basic terminology. It is always better to know more! You can use Google and read just a bit about the following notions: programming languages, content management system (CMS), search engine optimization (SEO), responsive design, backend & frontend, etc. That is not obligatory, of course, but that will definitely expand your understanding when discussing the project.
5) Make a research to find the websites that appeal to you. These may be your competitors’ websites as well as any websites you like something about – layout, colors, pictures, fonts, and so on. You can later provide them as a reference for inspiration while your project is being developed. That is the perfect way to let your developers know your design preferences.
6) Prepare a draft website structure. Of course, that may not be final – even a pencil sketch would be very helpful. A picture is worth a thousand words!
7) Prepare a RFP – the more profound it is, the easier it is for web developers to proceed with your request.
We hope these simple tips will help you gain understanding with web developers working on your project!
